December 15th

Huge NBA trade yesterday with the Clippers acquiring Chris Paul and the Hornets getting Eric Gordon, Al-Farouq Aminu, Chris Kaman's expiring contract (and Kaman, I suppose) and the heavily coveted Minnesota Timberwolves first round pick. Only time will tell who wins in the deal, but in the mean time the world of college basketball is explored once more in NCAA Daily:

Hello folks, welcome to this Wednesday's edition of NCAA Daily. This NCAA season has been fairly unpredictable thus far and the #2 Ohio State Buckeyes have a situation that few could predict. That is the first thing we will get into:

December 13th

Allen CrabbeCrabbe has been steadily becoming more efficient from the field after a somewhat slow start to the year. Over his past 5 games, he has averaged 20 ppg, hitting over 50% fg along with 6 rebounds while only turning it over once per contest. He seems to be getting into his groove shooting from the outside where he has looked really comfortable squaring up and getting his shot off in the blink of an eye before the defender has a chance to contest. The next step towards becoming an all around scoring threat will be attacking the paint with more frequency and getting to the FT line more often.

Sim has been getting the job done and has been a major bright spot for the Ducks who have rebounded from their opening game loss to Vanderbilt by taking 5 of their last 6 games. Sim has averaged 15 points over that 6 game stretch and shot over 50% from the field in the process. He does a lot of the little things that don't show in the boxscores, and also has a solid assist to turnover ratio while hitting a total of 24-26 from the ft line. Sim has been a very efficient pg and has the Ducks looking like one of the more competitive Pac 12 squads in the early going.

Kevin JonesJones put up 30 points and 12 rebounds in a win over Kansas State, including the game-tying three-pointer in the closing seconds to send the game into overtime.

Jones looks lighter on his feet this year, doing a much better job under the boards and elevating on his jumper. Even his three with 12 tics left showed improvement, where he used a jab step to create separation before rising and firing over his defender.

He's made huge strides as a senior, improving his scoring and rebounding numbers by an incredible margin despite playing similar minutes (13ppg and 7rpg previous 2 seasons, 20 and 11.4 this season). Still, he could really improve on his efficiency by resisting the urge to drift out to the perimeter, where the 6'8 260 pounder shoots 23% on 4.3 three-point attempts her game. If he could establish himself as a legitimate pick and pop option and an active body in the paint, Jones can provide desirable services off an NBA bench.

Pope has emerged as a scoring machine, averaging 24 points per game over his last 3. He's become more of a threat offensively, expanding his game out to almost 20 feet from the rim. He currently leads the Big East in scoring while averaging a double double.

No Top 25 teams played yesterday, so I will fill you in on the latest news stories and highlight some under the radar players or rising stars. With 345 NCAA Division 1 schools, there are a lot of players and teams deserving some props, so lets get to some of them in today's NCAA Daily. First, we will start with the new #1 team in the nation:

December 12th

After struggling for the better part of two weeks, Young re-emerged as a paint force in Gator victories over Arizona and Rider. He produded his best statistical line of the season, and his career, in an overtime battle against UA with 25 points on 12/15 shooting (1/6 FT), 10 rebounds (6 offensive), 2 blocks and a steal in 38 minutes. It was a pleasure to see Young get aggressive in a big game and punish the Wildcats undersized front line. Head Coach Billy Donovan claimed Young could have went off for 45 points if he received more touches in established position. Perhaps we can expect less backcourt chucking and more post entries from Florida in the near future. He followed up that effort with a 12 & 10 double-double against Rider, converting 5/7 field goal attempts and snatching 5 more offensive boards. The bruising frontcourt of Texas A&M will test his tenacity on the 17th.
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Taylor scored a career-high 30 points in the Commodores impressive road victory at Davidson. He cashed in on 12/17 field goal attempts and drained 3 three-pointers for the second consecutive game. For the season he's upped his shooting accuracy to 51% from the floor and nearly 37% from distance. The athletic 6'7 wing added 4 rebounds, 2 blocks, a steal and his typical three turnovers. Taylor has six games of 3+ TO's on the year, as ball handling (or lack thereof) continues to haunt his draft stock.

The electric freshman has taken the burden of Arkansas' offensive woes on his shoulders, scoring in double figures for the seventh straight contest in a 24-point effort (back to back 20+) at Oklahoma on Saturday. Young has become the go-to-guy in short order, making 9/16 shots and 3/7 treys, while also dishing out 3 helpers and swiping 3 steals. His efficiency has been remarkable (51% FG, 39% 3PT) given his lack of clean looks and dearth of teammates to occupy defensive attention.